Beccles’ first Spring Beer Festival will be staged this weekend offering ale, cider and larger from 29 breweries across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Hundreds of people attended the opening evening of the sixth annual Beccles Beer Festival in November. Picture: Nick Butcher.

The event follows on from six successful autumn festivals and will be held at Beccles Public Hall from tomorrow, April 6, to Sunday, April 8.

And organisers are hoping to see a repeat of last November when a record 1,605 people visited the three-day festival, drinking more than 4,500 pints.

Organisers Graham Elliott and Beccles Lido Limited chief executive Shaun Crowley, said: “The autumn beer festival is arguably the biggest in the area and we are expecting that real ale enthusiasts will travel from all over East Anglia.

“It’s not just a celebration of local ales, but it’s held in Beccles Public Hall to raise funds for Beccles Lido Limited, which owns and runs the hall, the lido and Big Dog Ferry; and it’s run by hall and lido volunteers – so it also celebrates these fantastic community run Beccles attractions.”

As usual there will be live music with a strong local flavour, with the return of popular Beccles performers Tosh and The Moonlighers tomorrow night at 9pm, playing a mix of party favourites and their own songs.

And on Saturday night, Solana - which includes two former pupils from Sir John Leman High School in Beccles - will play as part of their UK tour, bringing their stomping selection of toe tapping tunes combining folk, klezmer, flamenco, jazz and Arabic influences.

Sunday will have a lower key vibe and families with well behaved children are welcome.

The Public Hall will also have a fully licensed bar selling wines, spirits and soft drinks for the non-ale drinkers, and there will be a selection of hot and cold snacks served by lido and hall volunteers.

The festival will run from 4pm to 11pm tomorrow, with doors opening again on Saturday from noon to 11pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm.

And if you don’t drink them dry, off-license sales will be available from 5.30pm on Sunday.

For more information, search for Beccles Beer Festival on Facebook or follow @becclesbeerfest on Twitter.

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